The 21st Century Library - HELP! I'm on Information Overload!!

I read a quote (go figure!) by a user exchange goddess whose sole purpose in life is to make yours easier--at least online. She says that "[p]eople become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule." (Erica Firment, librarianavengers.org) 

Erica, if you ever read this, I thank you. You are a woman of my own heart.  I'm not sure about all-knowing, but we all have a similar purpose: to bring together information and those who seek it.  And though our resource medium may be changing, our goals never will.

Today the 21st century library is becoming a space without walls. Information is available every minute of every day to everyone with access to the web, in any location with "bars". This is both a blessing and a curse for us and for our users. Remember the ancient days… of 1999? Back when you got web hours in the form of an AOL disk; back in the time before the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and UCITA, before terms such as information overload and information explosion. Those were the days that most people had to wait for the library to open to find out the magnitude of the largest earthquake on record (Chile, 1960, 9.5) or who won the gold medal for archery in 1972 (John Williams of the USA).  I can hardly remember the time when my paper calendar reminded me it was Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday rather than the day’s Google doodle.

But today, in a world where it takes just seconds to get to information, librarians are better suited than anyone to guide information seekers through the millions of hits returned from a random Google search.  And further, it is our duty as school librarians to instill good information seeking behaviors in our students at a young age.  We can do so by taking advantage of some of the tools, tips, and tricks that are already out there. I am a huge advocate of not having to reinvent the wheel. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

So with that I welcome to my blog. I hope to touch on some of this tools, tips, and tricks that I have learned so you can get back to what’s most important. So go, bring order to chaos, and I’ll see you soon!